Hello fellow simmers!After a few long years of using my computer to fly FS9, the time has finally come for me to perform a huge replacement.I am going to buy a completely new PC since no more changes or upgrades seem possible or reasonable with my old equipment, which is currently (after a few lift-ups):GA-EP43-UD3L, E8400 3GHz, GeForce 8800GT, 4 GB RAM 2x2 DDR2, PSU Xilence XP700, Win XP 32 bit.I need some professional help based on your knowledge and experience as I am by no means a hardware specialist and I would not like to make a mistake as my next purchase will come probably in... another couple of years!Of course I have done my homework and had a thorough reading on hardware, operating systems, tweaks, et cetera. I did take some precious notes and have a general idea what it is all about.But I also admit I have too many doubts and I decided to kindly ask you to help me understand my transition and make good decisions. So, quickly before you get too bored to care...I need a very good rig but not the world’s best as my bank account (read: my wife) does have certain limits (lol). I am going to continue flying mainly FS9 (for many reasons).And I would love to have a perfectly fluid experience when performing my type of simming (airliners with all possible addons of scenery, traffic, weather, textures, etc).But at the same time I would like to give FSX another try as there are some great addons I really miss in FS9 and really want to try.They are mostly some FX-only sceneries like Oslo, Trondheim, new Madeira, Corfu X, new Austria Professional, new Monastir, Melbourne, Brisbane, Tahiti or Maldives.Also some other addons like the FSDT’s GSX or Majestic Software’s Dash 8-Q400 yet to come. Of course I would like to see some good performance in FSX too (with airliners, VC, large airports, traffic, weather).As for Flight, Prepar3D or X-Plane 10 – well, I don’t know yet. FS9/FSX are essential now.I do not know the final cost yet but I plan (read: am allowed to, lol) to spend around 4000 PLN, which would calculate into some 900-1000 euro or 1200-1500 USD.Plus the cost of Windows 7 64 bit unless it is included in the price (would be really good) as happens with some offers around.1. My collected hardware choice - from what I can figure out after reading many recent threads, a good idea (for now and the nearest future) could be to invest in:a. processor: Intel i7 2600k 3.4 GHz ?b. graphics card: GTX 570 <--- if so, then which model? 1280MB or 2560MB?c. motherboard: AsRock or Asus? Which models do you recommend?d. RAM: 8 GB <---- too many options for me though to choose the manufacturer/modele. hard disc: a good SSD one <---- but which model?f. PSU: Corsair WX 750 ?Would the above be good choices? If not – what else would you personally recommend?BTW I am rather not planning to overclock – I have always been a total ignoramus when it comes to it2. What about other not listed hardware parts? Do you have any advice on them?3. Is a separate sound card really recommended (and worth investing) for simming or are the mobo-integrated ones good enough (I don't have a separate one at the moment)?4. I read there are some FS aircraft not fully compatible with Win 7. Is there any list of them available somewhere? Or maybe now that is a question of the past?5. How is WOAI and generally (custom made) AI traffic doing under FSX? What about the shadows not visible on the ground (I read about it somewhere)? Has that problem been solved yet?6. Are there any real tricks to know about when migrating from XP (32 bit) to 7 (64 bit)?7. Does it matter (for simming) if I buy Windows 7 Premium (most reasonable price), Professional or Ultimate (as long as it is 64 bit of course)?8. Is the 3(4) GB switch still necessary to avoid OOM’s when having Win 7 64 bit?9. What are your experiences of having both FS9 and FSX installed at the same time? Any problems or real stopovers?10. Does it really matter how many HD partitions you create and where you install what (currently under my XP 32 bit I have only disc C: and everything is installed there)?I feel sincerely sorry for having asked so many questions. Especially that I know most of them were somehow answered more than once in many locations.But, like mentioned before, I got a bit lost and hope to collect some basic answers in one place. Maybe someone else can use them too (hopefully)? If you have ANY advice on ANY of those questions, I will be more than thankful and of course in return will offer my help at any time in any matter I have knowledge of.I am posting it in both the FS9 and FSX forums, as my questions touch different platforms/problems but also because some of you may not visit the other very often and I could miss some precious advice.If that double posting is against AVSIM rules though, please do not hesitate to remove one of them.Thank you!

HelloSave yourself some money and go with the 2500K, 2600K offers no advantage for FS9 or FSXThese new motherboards will auto overclock the K series chips with the OC autotune setting in the bios, my 2500K runs at 4.3ghz whilst in FSX and drops back down to 1.6ghz at the desktop.The GTX570 1280mb is fine, I have one and it runs FSX really well.The motherboard sound is fine , Windows 7 does not nativly support hardware sound acceleration anyway, so these days with multicore proccesors with spare cpu cycles there is much less reason to have a seperate card, unless you are really into your music ect.The 3GB switch is not neccesary under Win7 64bit but FS9 will still need the .exe marking Large Address Aware.FSX after SP2 is already LAA.The only things to watch out for under W7 64 is to install the Sim outside of Program Files (x86) as this location has some special permissions that can prevent some external programs from interacting properly with the simultator.Also be sure to turn off UAC and install and run your programs as administrator, doing those three things will save you a lot of problems.For the purposes of running the simulator then W7 64bit Premium is fine, unless you see yourself needing over 16GB of memory.My take on this is that by the time I need 16GB then Windows 8 will be here...There are no issues with having FS9 and FSX installed on the same drive, but with the machine you are planning there are only nostalgic reasons for running FS9, FSX will run better and smoother trust me , FS9 will only run on the one core anyway which seems a waste of a good CPU.I would also post this down in the hardware forum as that will yeild far more replies.

Hey, mad dog!Thanks a lot for your reply. I really appreciate it.

Save yourself some money and go with the 2500K

That sounds like a good idea. There is never too much money in the pocket, right?I will have a look at the 2500k prices in the local shops and on-line.

My take on this is that by the time I need 16GB then Windows 8 will be here

Sounds perfectly logic. And saves me another bunch of money.

there are only nostalgic reasons for running FS9

Well, not for me. With all the addons I have (and money spent on it), I see FS9 as a very complex and enjoyable platform.However since I use so many of them (addons) at the same time, my rig has some performance problems around large airports (where I usually fly).

I would also post this down in the hardware forum as that will yeild far more replies.

Yes, I thought about it too, but then I thought admins will kill me for posting in three places.I also guess people participating in the Harware forum here are either FS9ers or FSXers, so they will read me anyway.But maybe you are right.Once again thank you very much for your time.

Hi Rafal,I was planning a change of hardware as well, and after long research this is what I found that would make FS9 and FSX run hopfully good.very similar to yours. Intel Core i7-2600K or I5- 2500K ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS. COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 80GB SSD Intel (For OS installation only) 1TB 7200 RPM 1TB 64MB 3.5 ( For FSX and FS9) ASUS ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card. Antec 900 Ultimate Gamer Case CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) Make sure you have a good power supply High Speed DVD + / - RW Multi-Format at Double Layer CD & DVD Burner Intel Fast-Ethernet 10.100.1000 GIGABIT Network Controller Microsoft Windows 7 64-Bit Hope it helps Thanks

Hi, mate!

Hope it helps

It sure does! Thanks a lot. Yes, your choice looks similar to what I am thinking of.From what I read it looks like there is not enough advantage of 2600k over 2500k, so there is some space for money saving.I did not specifically think about a cooler, but now I think it might be a good idea to give it a thought.For instance when I do simming in summertime, my current PC freezes quite often and requires a hard restart.I am sure this is overheating even though my cover is off!Thank you very much for your suggestions!

FYI...One thing that I ran into was that the NT Core utility didn't want to work on my Win7x64 box. I had to use my WinXPx32 box to make the fs9.exe large address aware first and then put it into the Win7x64 pro system. (Maybe it was just a permissions issue). Regardless, hope that helps...Mark

I had to use my WinXPx32 box to make the fs9.exe large address aware first and then put it into the Win7x64 pro system

Thanks a lot, Mark. Noted.I will take it into consideration.Have a nice evening!